Heritage Open Day: Richard Thomas, of the William Cobbett Society, talks about Farnham's most famous son and his publication 'Rural Rides' William Cobbett is remembered as a campaigner for political reform during the industrial revolution and the time of the 'Rotten Boroughs'. In the 1820s he travelled around southern England, observing the parlous state of agriculture and the increasing poverty of farming families. He published his observations under the title 'Rural Rides'.